RPT-Market Chatter-Corporate finance press digest

Feb 4 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-related
stories were reported by media on Monday:

* Royal Bank of Scotland will next week agree a
settlement with U.S. and British authorities for its part in a
global rate rigging scandal, sources familiar with the situation
told Reuters.

* Blackstone, one of the world's largest alternative
asset managers, has quietly secured a securities underwriting
licence as its expanding capital markets operation strays into
investment banking territory, the Financial Times reported.

* RBS is pushing ahead with plans for a 1 billion pound
($1.57 billion) listing of the 316 branches it failed to sell to
Santander last year, the Sunday Telegraph said, adding
that the bank would remain open to another offer to buy the
branches.

* The owners of EE, Britain's biggest mobile network, are
close to appointing banks to advise on a flotation, The Sunday
Times reported, citing industry and banking sources.

* Heineken is preparing to sell Hartwall, the
Finnish arm of the brewer Scottish and Newcastle it bought in
2008, for about 500 million pounds, The Sunday Times reported
without citing sources.

* London-listed oil explorer Afren has hired a
corporate finance firm to look into selling its oil fields in
Kurdistan and east Africa, leaving the group focused on its main
assets in Nigeria, The Sunday Times reported.

* Dell Inc is edging closer to an agreement to sell
itself to a buyout consortium led by Michael Dell, its founder
and chief executive, and private equity firm Silver Lake
Partners in a deal that could top $24 billion, people familiar
with the matter said.

* Deutsche Bank AG will cap bonus payouts for
2012 at 300,000 euros ($410,900) per employee, a source familiar
with the development said.